


This is why we attach labels directly to the punch bowls

by paranomastic



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alcohol, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-27 17:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5057482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paranomastic/pseuds/paranomastic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yang throws a party. The party goes poorly for Ruby. Blake has to deal with both of these things while trying to make headway on the book she's reading. It turns out alright for everyone in the end, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is why we attach labels directly to the punch bowls

“Hey Blake,” Yang had said, with the same upbeat cheer she applied to most anything that had not managed to piss her off, “You should come home with me and Ruby for summer vacation!”

And for some reason, Blake had said yes.

“Hey Blake,” Yang had said, moments after Taiyang Xiao Long left for a week on a trip to visit some old friends in Vale, “You don't mind if we have a party here tonight, do you? You can hang in the guest room and read or whatever if you want.”

Blake had shrugged. Not like it was her house, right?

“Hey Blake,” Yang had said an hour or two into the party, cheer somewhat lapsed (though it may have just been muffled by the door), knocking as quietly as someone with arms like hers could knock, “Can I come in?”

Blake set her book aside with a sigh and walked to the door. The bedrooms had all been locked before the party at Yang's insistence, otherwise Blake was sure Yang would have just barged in. She was prepared for, once she had opened the door, exactly one half of what awaited her on the other side.

Yang was there, and that at least Blake had expected. But leaning on her shoulder, looking a little like she had been hit in the head with an invisible brick and mostly like her legs had revolted and lost the will to support the rest of her slight frame was Ruby Rose.

“Blaaaaaaake!” Ruby greeted her, grinning from ear to ear.

Blake's head turned, suspicion rising in her eyes, “Yang, is she...?”

“Some...” Yang cut the spite of whatever she was about to say with a healthy dose of reminding herself that Ruby was there, “... _jerk_ swapped the labels on the punch bowls. And our brave leader loves her punch.”

“Oh.” Blake raised an eyebrow, “So are you just letting me know, or...?”

“About that.” Yang sighed, “I need someone to watch her until the party's over, and I'm kinda busy hosting? Otherwise I would. But I figured, y'know, 'hey, I trust Blake with my life all the time, I can probably trust her with my sister, right?'”

“Or unload her on me.”

“Hey!”

“Shh, sis, calm down,” Yang moved a few strands of Ruby's disheveled hair back into their usual slightly-less-scattered place, “Details, details. Look, just... I'll help you get her into her room and into bed, just hang out and make sure she sleeps it off in peace, okay?”

Blake arched an eyebrow at the particulars of the plan, but then shook her head. “Fine.”

“Thanks. I owe you one.”

“Both of you do.” Blake corrected, picking up her book from the bed.

“What did I do?” Ruby asked, brow furrowing. She made a brief attempt to move away from Yang's side, but the widening of her eyes made it clear that was a poor choice and she and she returned to leaning.

Blake smirked at that, despite herself, “We'll talk in the morning.” Assuming, of course, that Ruby would be able to talk the next day. Blake really had no idea just how much Ruby had drunk, but there was no way the next morning would be pleasant for her at this point. Well, everyone had to learn that lesson at some point, right?

The trek through the party and up the stairs took, Blake assumed, less time than it seemed, but Dust it felt long. Yang at least took the responsibility of getting Ruby's feet to stay on the ground and her head to stay at proper head level entirely upon herself all the way up the stairs, which was... honestly impressive. Blake followed close behind, as though moving more than a few steps away from them would lead to the pulsating mass of partiers sucking her away.

“Okay, just... stay out here for a sec while I get her into her pajamas.” Yang insisted when they reached Ruby's bedroom, “And uh. Thanks again.”

“Still owe me.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Yang punched towards her shoulder, not quite reaching, “Just give me a sec.”

And more than a sec was given, but Blake did not mind. She just leaned against the wall by the door, returning to her book. As long as she considered it a favor to Ruby, she found that she honestly did not mind as much as she expected. After all, Ruby was not one for asking much out of anyone, and... well, suffice to say there were other reasons at play too.

Eventually, Yang emerged from the room, “She's all yours!”

Blake rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

In return, Yang clapped a hand onto her shoulder. Ah yes, Xiao Long gratitude. “Just a few hours. Besides, she'll appreciate it tomorrow.” And with a characteristically obnoxious wink, Yang made her way to and down the stairs.

One heavy sigh later, Blake had swung around from the wall through the door into Ruby's room. The other girl was tucked tight under the bedsheets, and a conspicuous chair and bucket had been placed next to it. Truly, Yang had spared no expense. Well... that was unfair. She had managed to organize and throw a party in about four hours from the time Taiyang had left. That probably took a lot of. Stuff.

“Yaaay Blake! Welcome to my room.” Ruby announced from under her (suitably red) covers, grin still stuck on her face.

“Glad to be here.” Blake replied, smirking as she sat down.

Ruby tried to do something with her arms, but whatever Yang had done to the sheets had tucked her in _tight_ , so she gave up after a moment and sighed, “The punch wasn't even that good.”

“Well hey, now you know what spiked punch tastes like.”

Ruby giggled, which ended in a snort, “There weren't any spikes in it, Blake!”

Oh good, drunk Ruby took after sober Yang. This was going to be fantastic. “You know what I meant.”

“Yeah, I do.” Ruby admitted, still grinning, “I guess so. I dunno, it didn't taste super different? But I had a bunch and then it was 'oh no Ruby that wasn't grape juice that was rum' and then Yang took me over to find you and then you came up here and now we're alone in my bedroom hanging out!”

Alone in her bedroom. Right. Because of course Ruby had to remind her that was the situation here. “That... sure is what happened, I guess. But I think Yang said you're supposed to be asleep?”

“Pfffffffffft.” Ruby replied, eloquent and verbose as she had ever been, “Naw, I don't need to sleep. Not yet! Even if I am kinda stuck here.” Blake really did not want to know why Yang knew how to tuck in bedsheets that tightly.

“You should at least try?” Man, convincing drunk Ruby to go to sleep was not part of the responsibilities Yang had outlined earlier. 

“Nuh-uh. No way.” Ruby shook her head, then seemed to almost immediately regret the brisk movement, “Unless...”

Oh, Blake did _not_ like the sound of that. But still, the sooner Ruby was asleep the sooner she could get back to her book. Not that she lacked sympathy for Ruby's current condition, but. “Unless?”

“ _You_ need to read me a bedtime story.”

Blake blinked. “What?”

“It'll make me sleepy.” Flawless logic here, courtesy of Ruby Rose. “And I've never heard you read out loud before.”

_That would be because I don't_. “Well, I mean... if you're sure.” She looked around the room. There was a bookshelf over on the other side of the bed, “Do... you want me to read anything in particular?”

Ruby shrugged, “You can just read what you're reading right now if you want.”

“Are you sure?” Blake looked down at the book in her hands, “It's historical nonfiction, I don't think you usually read that kind of thing.”

“Well yeah, but...” Ruby smiled, not a grin but a smile, and Blake's heart skipped a beat, “If you're reading it, it's a good book, right?”

“It's not bad.” Blake replied, then cleared her throat. She had not been too far from a chapter break when her reading had been interrupted, so she only had to go back a few pages, and... “'When the dust settled, the victor of the battle was obvious...'”

A few pages of enraptured silence later, during a lull in an admittedly dull paragraph about the organization of a regiment, Ruby yawned and adjusted herself under the covers. “Okay, I think it's sleep time.”

“You sure?” Blake looked up from the book, slightly disappointed. She had finally started to really get into it, too.

Ruby nodded, “Yup.”

“Alright.” Blake found herself reaching out towards Ruby and then, not knowing exactly what she had planned to do with her hand, settled for patting Ruby on the shoulder, “Goodnight, Ruby.”

“G'night, Blake. Love you.” Ruby said before finally closing her eyes and drifting towards sleep.

Blake's eyes, though, were suddenly wide open. No, no reading into it. Probably the same thing she said to Yang before bed every night. No big deal. So after a moment, she smiled and used her hand to move some of Ruby's hair out of her face. “Love you too.” _Mean it_.

What followed was about an hour of Ruby sleeping and Blake alternating between reading her book, watching Ruby, and trying to focus on reading her book while mentally berating herself for watching Ruby sleep. That was creepy, right? That was creepy. But she was just so... well, beautiful when she slept. Which was the sort of thought Blake would never admit to a single other soul in Remnant, but was nonetheless true. Ruby was so small, but so profoundly powerful, and Blake respected her. No, more than that. Obviously more than that. But also Ruby was her best friend's sister, her team leader, and not her partner. The odds of anything coming of those feelings was low at best, and certainly nothing was going to happen tonight.

Ruby announced her eventual premature return to consciousness with a groan, some smacking of her lips, and an “Ungh...”

“You okay?” Blake asked, snapping to attention a little too eagerly.

“Yeah, just... blurgh.” Ruby managed to muster up the strength to pull some room in the sheets and brought a hand up to her head.

“Do you want me to read to you again, or...?” Blake asked, but Ruby shook her head.

“No, but... I have a question. I wanted to ask if before, but...” A glass of water Blake had not noticed on the bedside table quickly became just a glass.

“Sure. Shoot.” There, a joke. To go with drunk Ruby's usual tone.

“So... let's say you liked someone. Like... _like_ liked.” Ruby blinked, “Whoah, that's a lot of likes.” Then she returned to the task at hand, “What would you do?”

Blake froze. “What... do you mean?”

“I mean. Yang said the best thing to do is just tell 'em. Which makes sense, y'know, 'cause Yang. But I wanted to know what you think.”

_Watch them while they sleep off booze, apparently_. “I... don't know. That's probably what I would do. Definitely easier that way.”

Ruby swallowed and, of all the strange reactions, buried herself under the covers by pulling them tight over her head. “Oh. So if you liked someone, you'd just tell them?”

“I mean... yes? But it's different for everyone.” Blake looked away, a gesture that was robbed from Ruby's sight by a considerable fabric barrier, “Just.. what comes naturally, I guess?”

“Well, I thought I would be all clever and stuff and ask them how they'd deal with liking someone, but... if they didn't do that to me already then I know the answer. But I don't even get to ask for real, then, even if it does mean getting rejected, so-”

Blake straightened up so hard she stood and the chair fell over behind her, “Wait, what?”

“If they say 'I'd just tell them' and they haven't said anything, then there's already no chance, right? I'm already screw- I mean done.”

“Ruby...” Blake said, reaching to try to pull at the covers, but Ruby pulled back harder to keep them on.

“It's fine. It was stupid anyway.”

“That's not...” Blake sighed, “There's a problem with that approach.”

A pause. “Th-There is?”

“Yep.” Blake swallowed, “When you ask something like that, people usually say what you _should_ do, or what they _should_ do. Instead of, y'know... what they actually would.”

There was a moment of silence, and Blake tried to remove the blanket again. This time she was met with less resistance, and found Ruby underneath curled up and turned away from her, eyes wet but focused intently. She looked for all the world like she had been confronted with some kind of calculus problem. Or... algebra problem, in Ruby's case, given how abysmal she tended to be at subjects not directly related to killing Grimm or getting better at killing Grimm.

“I don't get it.”

Blake sighed, “Try taking Yang's advice. Right now.”

Ruby turned towards Blake and scooted up into a sitting position, still turning the idea over in her head but clearly moving towards acceptance of it. “Okay. Uh... I really like you? And want to date and kiss and stuff. You can go ahead and say no now.”

“I don't think I will.”

“What?”

Blake cautiously put the palm of a hand against Ruby's cheek, moving in closer, “I want to date and kiss and stuff too.”

“You... do?”

Blake nodded.

Ruby blinked, “I need the bucket.”

“What?”

“I have too many feelings inside me the punch and cookies are about to come out.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Another couple hours and a vigorous cleaning of the bucket later, as well as a couple glasses of water and some heartfelt conversation about how they would have a more meaningful conversation regarding where to go from here in the morning, Yang came in as Ruby had finally drifted back off to sleep, and Blake had dozed off in the chair.

“And here you said you'd wait up.” She said, sighing. Well, no reason to kick Blake out of Ruby's room now, right?

Ruby and Blake's first kiss came the next morning, after Ruby had finished swearing off alcohol for life and brushed every trace of it from her mouth, and their first date that afternoon. Yang ended up stuck behind to clean up the party by herself, but she was surprisingly okay with that for some reason.


End file.
